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30

ON THE PROPOSED

been already answered. This country never ought to permit, andnever will permit Texas to be held or occupied by England in anyway. The idea is utterly inadmissible, though even in that casethe present theory seems altogether unwarrantable. The nameof Jackson has been invoked to support it; and certainly theopinions of that statesman on a military question, connectedwith the defence of the west, are entitled to the greatest deference.But, with all that deference and respect, it is impossible to seeany plausible ground for this apprehension. It seems the last spotin the whole extent of our territory likely to be thus attacked,and the most defensible against any invader, hardy enough to approachit. The difficulty of landing, in the first place, any verylarge body of men at any point on our coast, where they have tobe followed by ordnance and provisions, is a very serious one.*How is any tolerable commissariat to be maintained on the lineof two hundred miles from the Gulf of Mexico to the Red River IHow many days would a hostile army be occupied in marchingthrough this wilderness 1 While, on the other hand, what are ourresources for defence, and how should we, in the meantime, beoccupied during the advance of the invaders? Down the Ohio,the Missouri, the Mississippi and its tributaries, would pour thetroops of the West. Boats, supplies, every thing twould be at theircommand, and the moment the invader crossed our boundary hewould find himself far from his own ships, without any base ofoperations, in the midst of a hostile population, and in front of aforce of any required numbers. Burgoyne's experiment in 1778was not half as chimerical, nor met with nearly as certain a fate,as would any such attempt. As to the dangers of servile insurrection,if they exist, and that they do exist, is one of the perniciousconsequences of the " domestic institution," the peril wouldbe the same if the British troops were landed at the Balize or atMobile. But certainly no British general in his senses will marchtwo hundred miles in the rear of our country, for the pleasure ofmeeting there the riflemen of the West. There is not so strong aportion of the Union at the whole line of the Mississippi: a populationinured to hardships, wonted to arms, and possessing rapidmeans of communication, may defy tlie force not merely ofEngland, but of the world. But look at history and experienceonour northern frontier, Great Britain has colonies for a thousandmiles, fortifications-dep6ts and waters on which she canmove with rapidity and in great bodies, and vet what has she everdone there to annoy us? Plattsburgh and Saratoga answer thequestion. The truth is, that this country never can be occupiedby an European force. As regards conquest or occupation, it isabsolutely invincible.*In 1809. the whole British force in the Peninsula was only 23,000 men. Napier,vol. 1, ap. No. 40. In 1811, it leached to 57,000. In 1812, to 48,000; Napier,vol. 2, 'ap No. 20; and this, it must be recollected, was the greatest effirtthat England has ever made, and upon a country within a few days' sail ofher own ports with Portugal for an ally and the paniu opatioa s aui